browser life

rants, raves, laughs and a dedication to awareness about chronic illness and having a life despite it

Friday, April 08, 2005

Ok, sol's got me all revved up...

....and with good reason. Check her journal entry for today; you can go there from my "Links" list.

And for those of you who didn't go there just now and read it, she did a magnificent rant about how her employer, a company who prides itself on its sensitivity, is bombarding her with e-mails about Weight Watcher meetings, "helpful" weight loss tips such as taking the stairs (like me, she is too ill to do this) and other unwelcome information. And this same said company provides donuts at United Way pitch meetings. Boy, does this sound familiar.

I didn't require a whole lot to get me wound up, to be honest. I've been ranting for awhile about this and other recent indignities committed in the name of what's supposed to be good for me.

I work with 1200 others, so the company I work for is plenty large enough for the United Way arm-twisting and the overly enthusiastic promotion of the Weight Watchers meetings. One of my co-workers wears a mock prison uniform to the United Way meetings with his employee ID number on the front of his shirt.

So we're bombarded with "helpful" weight loss info, and what is our reward for when our department does a good job? Pizza night! I can't even eat pizza. Or donuts or congratulatory cakes. And I can no longer take the stairs to lose those few extra pounds (as if it were that simple).

The only thing worse than the workplace hypocrisy is being a newly diagnosed diabetic who already leads a healthy lifestyle. The assumption is that because I have type 2 diabetes, I must be overweight and never exercise. So nearly every article I find on diabetes tells me how to lose weight and suggests that I work out an hour each day. Truth is, I'm only five pounds heavier than what I consider my ideal weight, and I do non-impact exercise up to six days a week already. Sigh.

And well-meaning people go out of their way to tell me how to cure what ails me. One woman told me a few weeks ago, with a straight face, that if I gave up red meat and tomatoes, my fibromyalgia would go away. I had a good laugh over that one.

Oh, and now my local pharmacy won't fill certain prescriptions for "moral" reasons! Never mind that I am prescribed the estrogen for a medical condition and not for birth control, or that whether or not I need pain meds is for my DOCTOR to decide. Why does EVERYONE ELSE know what's better for me than I do?? When did we cross the line from politically correct and become self-proclaimed lifestyle police??

I do NOT need someone to lecture me for parking in a handicapped space with my legally obtained handicapped placard in place. I do NOT need someone without a medical degree to decide for me that I would feel much better if I stopped taking all my meds. And if I were gay, atheist, another religion, whatever, it does NOT affect YOUR lifestyle, so DON'T try to convert me or pass a law barring me from marrying the "wrong" person!! Just because I'm in the minority, it doesn't necessarily make me wrong.

I'm an adult. I've earned the right to make a few mistakes, and even cultivate a few vices. Like this post, for example. When I want unsolicited advice, I'll go read someone else's blog.